Looking back at the restaurants that opened in and around Big D in 2011, there’s only one possible conclusion: It was the Year of the Mexican Restaurant. It began with the opening of Komali, featuring Abraham Salum’s takes on the food of his native Mexico City. Then came Alma. And Mesa. And Wild Salsa. And MesoMaya. And Mí Día From Scratch. And Mr. Mesero. ¡Caramba!

As far as I’m concerned, the hands-down best of the bunch was Alma, the vibrant, gracious place that Consilient Restaurants opened on North Henderson Avenue in February, with Michael Brown, a high-profile Los Angeles chef, at the helm. The restaurant was terrific. Brown left, and local wunderkind Anastacia Quiñones took over the kitchen. The restaurant got even better. Its tortillas, handmade from corn ground in-house, were things of wonder. From a silken calabaza soup to a zippy ceviche de camarones with guava and chives to albondigas so good they almost made me weep, Quiñones’ cooking rocked.

Then, abruptly, Consilient closed Alma in October.

Were it still open, I’d likely have chosen it as Restaurant of the Year. Qué lástima.

Not that Mexican restaurants were the only thing going in 2011, which saw a healthy number of openings, mostly of places modest in price and feel. Many are wonderful additions to the scene, as you’ll gather from the list that follows. But there was not one that stands out above the others as Restaurant of the Year, as Lucia did in 2010, Samar by Stephan Pyles did in 2009 and Tei-An did in 2008.

A few restaurants, including the Chesterfield (Eddie “Lucky” Campbell’s cocktail bistro downtown) and Oak (the brand-new Design District spot with chef Jason Maddy in charge of the kitchen), opened too late in the year to be considered. They will be eligible for the Best in DFW: New Restaurants 2012 list. Then there was Campo Modern Country Bistro. The Oak Cliff dining room opened in time, but it doesn’t yet have a permanent chef. It’s terrific at the moment, with chef Matt McCallister at the stoves for the time being, but who knows how it will be when he leaves, which could be in a matter of months?

There were chef changes at a number of the contenders for best new restaurants in the course of the year, and if that was the case, or if there were significant changes to a contender’s menu, I revisited those restaurants.

Choosing the best in such a vibrant field wasn’t easy, and I’m sure you have your own ideas of the best restaurants to open in 2011. Naturally, we would love to hear about them. Please let us know in the comments below.

Below, in alphabetical order, are my picks for The Best in DFW: New Restaurants of 2011.

Baboush

The atmosphere is Moroccan chic, the cocktails are smashing, and the small plates — like a perfect meze platter, a gorgeous moutabal du jardin salad, a cigarlike spin on chicken bastila, wonderful kefta kebab and more — are not just beautifully prepared, but well-priced, to boot. As grazing ops go, it doesn’t get much better than Sam Benoikken and Yaser Khalaf’s alluring spot where Lebanon meets Morocco in West Village.

From the Valentine’s Day moment Jay Jerrier opened his Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana-certified Deep Ellum pizzeria back in February, the place was a hit. The pizza, with its charred, blistery, chewy, slightly crisp Neapolitan-style crust, was some of the best I’d had anywhere in the country. The pies did not go unnoticed by Dallas pizza lovers, and now the wait for a table can easily top an hour. (Reservations are accepted only for parties of six or more.) In September, Jerrier brought on an executive chef, Dino Santonicola, with plans to expand into the space next door and at some point this year open a second Cane Rosso location.

I hope it’s not all happening too quickly. Recently, the pizza was not as extraordinary as it had been, and Santonicola’s antipasti and pasta, while good, were not remarkable.

Nevertheless, Cane Rosso is a phenomenon, and the place seems destined to be a Dallas institution.

2612 Commerce St., Dallas. 214-741-1188. canerosso.com.

The Cedars Social

Not surprisingly, when this groovy cocktail den-slash-restaurant opened in February with consulting chef John Tesar in charge of the menu and the stoves, the food (hamachi ribs; octopus-chorizo-celery leaf salad; beef tongue sliders with salsa verde; lobster potpie), was original, stylish and decidedly delicious. Surprisingly, when he left and sous-chef Steven Starns took over the kitchen, the level of the cooking remained high.

Now the restaurant has a talented new chef, Kyle McClelland, who comes by way of Boston and New York. His dishes, like duck confit on braised greens with black garlic gel and spinach emulsion, or crisped ruby red trout fillets on a ragout of chanterelles, English peas, corn and haricots verts with parsnip purée, are among the most compelling in town.

It’s a funky spot whose dining room is perplexingly uncomfortable, but it’s got a winning personality, dandy cocktails (created by barman and co-owner Michael Martensen) and a great vibe.

1326 S. Lamar St., Dallas. 214-928-7700. thecedarssocial.com.

Marquee Grill and Bar

Top Chef favorite Tre Wilcox runs the kitchen at this striking Highland Park Village place with Regency-glam decor. His snazzy appetizers, like a ceviche of sweet lobster and silky squid, hot-and-cold foie gras or exemplary shrimp and grits, are show-stoppers; main courses (hickory-grilled Texas-raised rib-eye, Espelette-dusted halibut) are just plain good. As at the Cedars Social, there’s a celebrity bartender attached: Jason Kosmas creates cocktails with personality and flair.

32 Highland Park Village, Dallas. 214-522-6035. marqueegrill.com.

Mesa Veracruz Coastal Cuisine

The menu, featuring Olga and Raul Reyes’ simple, well-turned-out dishes, is the most focused of the new wave of Dallas Mexican restaurants, spotlighting the bright, fresh cooking of Veracruz. Seafood stands out, as in a rich crab and shrimp soup called chilpachol de jaiba y camarón, but there are earthly and flighty delights too, such as oxtail braised in hoja santa sauce or duck leg in a lusty mole negro. But it’s not just great cooking that puts the Oak Cliff restaurant on this list: It’s also the polished, warm, hospitable service and spare yet striking decor. Meanwhile, Mesa’s enmoladas — mole layered into handmade corn tortillas — were one of the most memorable tastes of last year.

118 W. Jefferson Blvd., Dallas. 214-941-4246. mesadallas.com.

Mí Día From Scratch

Mexican, Tex-Mex and New Mexican are all on the menu at this gleaming spot in Grapevine, where chef Gabriel DeLeon is in charge of the kitchen. Curiously, some of the basics (guacamole, margaritas) miss the mark, but it’s worth getting past that because DeLeon’s cooking often wows. Case in point: quesadillas de huitlacoche, trufflelike corn fungus folded into handmade blue corn tortillas along with roasted poblano chiles, queso asadero and corn. It doesn’t get much better than that. Or tender sopes topped with shredded pork belly, black-bean purée and salsa negra. DeLeon’s pato a la parilla’s pretty swell, too — slices of guajillo-rubbed duck breast topped with julienned chayote and sauced in a dusky red mole coloradito.

1295 S. Main St., Grapevine. 817-421-4747. midiafromscratch.com.

Private Social

The dining room may be sleek and the cocktails suave, but by far the best thing about the glammy Uptown spot that opened in late September is Tiffany Derry’s cooking. By turns sophisticated (plump sea scallops on parsnip purée with chanterelles, snow peas and pomegranate seeds) and soulful (duck-fat fried chicken; braised oxtails with gnudi), the Top Chef star’s plates are some of the most exciting around. The service is spot-on. The acoustics, on the other hand, are a problem: The dining room gets so noisy conversation can be a real challenge.

3232 McKinney Ave., Dallas. 214-754-4744. privatesocial.com.

TELL US YOUR PICKS

We’d love to hear your choices for the best new restaurants to open in the D-FW area in 2011. Go to eatsblog.dallasnews.com, look for the Best in DFW: New Restaurants of 2011 post and tell us in a comment. Or send an email, including your full (real) name and city of residence to lbrenner@dallasnews.com. We’ll publish highlights, focusing on restaurants not included in this list, in the Jan. 20 issue of Guide.

Visit dallasnews.com/bestindfw to see other categories, including Chefs, Italian, Cocktails, Japanese and more.

OTHER NOTABLE OPENINGS

Asador

BEE (Best Enchiladas Ever)

Bistro 31

Bistro Watel

Bob’s Steak and Chop House (Omni Dallas)

Campo

The Capital Grille at the Shops at Legacy

Coffee House Cafe

The Commissary

Company Cafe

D’Carlo Italian Cuisine

Dee Lincoln’s Restaurant and Bubble Bar

Del Frisco’s Grille

Dough

Gio’s Cafe and New York Deli

Hedary’s (Allen)

Howard Wang’s Uptown China Brasserie

Jonathon’s Oak Cliff

Katy Trail Ice House

Ketchup Burger Bar

Komali

Lazaranda Mexican Seafood Grill

Liberty Burger

Lockhart Smokehouse

Malai Thai Vietnamese Kitchen

MesoMaya

Mr. Mesero

Mughlai Fine Indian Cuisine

Princi Italia

Rohst Korean Marinade Grill

Shinjuku Station (Fort Worth)

Social 121

Sutra

Texas

Texas Spice

V-Spot

Wild Chutney’s

Wild Salsa

Zanata

Zio Cecio

CLOSINGS

Burger Girl

Hector’s on Henderson

Taquerias El Fuego

Tramontana

AND A FEW THAT OPENED AND CLOSED

Alma

Decanter

Fu Zhou

Luckie’s Smokehouse

Molly Maguire’s Ale House and Eatery

RedFork

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